The Spring 2002 Ruminator Books Fodder arrived in today’s mail. Ruminator Books (formerly Hungry Mind Books) is the independent bookstore two blocks up my street. It’s always been one of the best independent bookstores in the country and its owner, David Unowsky is one of the true good guys.
When controversy swirled around the publication of Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, Unowsky and his staff struggled long and hard about how to handle it. Some of his staff wanted to ban the book from the store while others were adamant that it be carried in the name of free speech. The no-compromise solution was to stock the book and let the staff attach notes with their comments about the book to the bookshelf. A brilliant solution: everyone won without compromising his or her principles.
In a column, David Unowsky writes that under the new antiterrorism laws, the federal government has expanded its authority to search bookstore records and that it’s illegal for him, as a bookstore owner, to disclose information concerning the searches. “In fact,” he writes only half-jokingly, “it might even be illegal for us to tell you this law exists.”
Unowsky states that the bookstore believes the searches violate the First, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments of the Constitution as well as international law and the United Nations Charter.
While Unowsky says that Ruminator Books does everything it can to not have records of the titles customers purchase, it appears to be impossible in the case of credit card sales. Therefore, Unowsky, suggests using cash if you are concerned about your book purchases being tracked.
At the end of the column, Unowsky contrasts the Bush administration’s penchant for tracking book purchases with its refusal to track gun purchases:
“One further piece of irony: Attorney General John Ashcroft, citing the sanctity of the Second Amendment, refused to search gun purchase records for information about weapons purchases by terrorists. What we have, apparently, is a misguided (at least in this case) administration that fears books and ideas but loves guns. ....”
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